1989: Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University graduate student, is the first person to be indicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Morris was prosecuted for creating and releasing the Morris worm, generally recognized as the first computer worm to infect the internet. He released the worm from computers at MIT in order […]

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July 26, 1989: First Indictment Under Computer Fraud Act

1989: Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University graduate student, is the first person to be indicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Morris was prosecuted for creating and releasing the Morris worm, generally recognized as the first computer worm to infect the internet. He released the worm from computers at MIT in order to keep the light of suspicion away from Cornell.

Morris said later that his intentions were purely intellectual, that he created the worm in an attempt to measure the size of the internet. A design flaw in the worm’s delivery system, however, caused some infected computers to keep replicating the worm until they became unusable. A number of systems were disabled by the Morris worm.

Damage estimates from the worm’s impact vary greatly, as do the actual number of systems and individual computers that were affected. But the numbers applied to Morris are concrete: After some plea bargaining, he was sentenced in December 1990 to three years’ probation and fined $10,000 (about $17,000 in today’s money).

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has been amended several times (and folded into the Patriot Act) since its inception, and Morris’ activities might bring down a much harsher sentence today.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in any case, was forgiving and bore Morris no grudge. He is currently a tenured professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.